Mechanism for applying tear strips to wrapper-forming material



c. A. BECK Jan; 17,1967

MECHANISM FOR APPLYING TEAR STRIPS TO WRAPPER-FORMING MATERIAL 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 4, 1963 INVENTOR.

CARL A. BECK 1 40 A TTORNEY Jan. 17, 1967- I c. A. BECK MECHANISM FOR A PLYING TEAR STRIPS T0 WRAPPERFORMING MATERIAL Fild June 4, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheetv INVENTOR.

CARL A. BECK A TTORNEY Jan. 17, 1961 (I. A. BECK MECHANiSM FOR APPLYING TEAR STRIPS TO WRAPPER-FORMING MATERIAL Filed June 4, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. CA El. ABECK 4 TTOR/VEY Jam-17, 1967 c. A. BECK 3,298,891

MECHANISM FOR APPLYING TEAR STRIPS TO WRAPPER-FORMING MATERIAL Filed June 4, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig.8.

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Q v- I n E N fiww 3 fi H INVENTOR.

CARL ABECK A 7'7'ORNEY Jan. 17, 1967 c. A. BECK 3,298,891

Q MECHANISM FOR APPLYING TEAR STRIPS TO WRAPPER-FORMING MATERIAL Filed June 4, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 202 INVENTOR.

CARL /4. 556K United States l atent C) 3,298,891 MECHANISM FOR APPLYING TEAR STRIPS T WRAPPER-FORMING MATERIAL Carl A. Beck, Bala Cynwyd, Pa., assignor to Charles Beck Machine Corporation, King of Prussia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed June 4, 1963, Ser. No. 285,337 4 Claims. (Cl. 156519) This invention relates to mechanisms for producing and applying tear strips to a web of package-forming or wrapping material.

It has been suggested heretofore that tear strips for packages or wrapping materials be formed by providing a web of tear strip material which has a width equal to the length of the tear strip to be produced. The individual tear strips are then produced by severing such a web transversely to form each of the tear strips. However, the tear strips thus produced must be transferred to the web or film of wrapper-forming material and secured thereto in an accurately positioned location. The latter steps require the use of mechanical elements which must be machined with the utmost accuracy in order to assure the proper sequence, registration and synchronization of the elements during continuous or repeated operations of the machine. Even then the normal wear upon the elements requires frequent adjustment or alterations to be effected in order that the severing of the tear strip from a web of material, the placement of the strip on the wrapper-forming material and the bonding of the strip to the wrapper can be effected in the proper timed relation and when the elements are in the required relative positions with respect to each other and with respect to the materials being handled.

A further limitation presented by many tear strip-applying machines of the prior art resides in the fact that the equipment is not readily adjustable or capable of modification to apply tear strips to bags, wrappers or packaging materials at variously spaced intervals for use in producing different sizes of packages or wrappers.

In accordance with the present invention, these objections and limitations of prior tear strip-applying mechanisms are overcome and means are provided whereby the stripcutting blade, the strip-holding means, and the stripaffixing means are so combined and related in their positions and movements as to preclude any possibility of misplacement or lack of registration of either the mechanical elements or the material being handled thereby.

In the preferred form of the invention shown in the drawings and described herein, the strip cutter, strip holder and strip-affixing means are all carried by a single transfer element and are positioned side by side whereby the tear strip is not actually moved with respect to the transfer element after formation of the strip until it has been affixed to the wrapper-forming material.

In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the equipment is selectively operable to apply tear strip materal to bags, wrappers or packaging material at any selected or predetermined point or interval of operation to produce packages, wrappers or the like of any or various desired sizes.

Accordingly, the principal objects of the present invention are to simplify and improve mechanisms for producing and applying tear strips to packaging or wrapping materials, to assure the proper registry and sequence of operation of the elements of such mechanism, to limit or eliminate the need for frequent adjustment, and to reduce the cost of operating and maintaining tear strip-applying machinery.

These and other objects and features of the present invention will appear from the following description thereof wherein reference is made to the figures of the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a digrammatic perspective view of a typical form of tear strip-applying mechanism embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the construction illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view through a preferred form of tear strip cutter and transfer means which may be employed in the mechanism shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of one end portion of the transfer means illustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of the elements shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a transverse sectional view through the construction shown in FIG. 4 taken on the line 6-6 thereof;

FIG. 7 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 77 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a front elevation of the mechanism illustrated in FIG. 1 with parts thereof broken away;

FIG. 8A is an end view of a typical vacuum head which may be embodied in the equipment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a side view of a portion of the mechanism shown in FIG. 8 including typical driving elements of the mechanism;

FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the driving connections employed in the mechanism illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 9;

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic sectional view through an alternative form of pressure means which may be employed in mechanisms involving the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a plan view of a portion of an alternative type of product which may be produced in accordance with the present invention.

In that form of the invention chosen for purposes of illustration in the drawings, a web or film of sheet material designed for use in forming a package wrapper, container, bag or the like is indicated at 2 and is passed from a roll 4 supported on the shaft 6 over an idler roll 8 to a press roll 10 mounted on a shaft 12. If and when the package wrapper or other wrapping material is to embody multiple layers of material, a second web of wrapping material 14 may be drawn from a roll 16 mounted on shaft 18 and passed into engagement and registry with the Web of material 2. For this purpose, the webs 2 and 14 both are passed over the idler roll 8 to the press roll 10.

The material employed in forming the tear strips to be applied to the wrapper or package is supplied in the form of a web 20 which is drawn from the supply roll 22 mounted on shaft 24. The web 20 passes from roll 22 between feed roll 26 and idler 28 and over a support 30 which has a stationary knife blade 32 mounted adjacent an edge thereof. The web of tear strip material, in passing beyond the edge of stationary knife blade 32, is presented in position to be severed transversely by means of one or another of the movable knife blades 34 carried by the rotatable tear strip handling member 36.

The member 36 is provided with a shaft 38 journalled in bearings 40 mounted on the frame members 42 and 118 at the opposite sides of the machine as seen in FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings, the tear strip handling member 36 has four radially extending arms 44, each of which carries a knife blade 34, a tear strip holding means 46 and a heating element 48. The member 36 may, of course, be provided with any suitable or preferred number of arms 44 or, if preferred, the member 36 may embody only a single knife blade, strip holder and heating element.

The member 36 is located adjacent the press roll and is operable to sever the web of tear strip material 20 transversely to produce individual tear strips 50. The tear strip holding means 46 then serves to hold the severed strip 50 on the arm 44 of the member 36 as the member rotates to place the tear strip on the web of wrapping material 2 located in contact with the press roll 10. The heating element 48, which is also carried by the arm 44 and located adjacent the strip holding means 46, then serves to heat the tear strip as it is pressed against the web of wrapping material 2 so that the tear strip will be bonded to the web and extend transversely thereof, as shown in FIG. 1.

The heating element 48 is supplied with current through suitable means such as the conductors 45 connected to rings 47 which are, in turn, continuously engaged by brushes 49. If the wrapper-forming material consists of a single layer of sheet material, the tear strip 50 will, of course, be bonded to the web 2. However, if the package wrapper or bag being produced embodies a plurality of layers of material, such as those indicated at 2 and 14 in FIG. 1, the tear strip 50 may be applied to the topmost layer as indicated at 14 in FIG. 1. Furthermore, when the wrapper being formed embodies multiple layers of material, the heating element 48 may be, and generally is, operated in a manner to cause the various layers of package-forming material to be fused or otherwise bonded together during the step of applying and bonding the tear strip to the packaging material.

The preferred form of the tear strip handling member 36 shown in FIGS. 3 to 7 is provided with a knifepositioning shoulder 52 located adjacent one side of each radially extending arm 44. The rotatable knife blades 34 are securely held in engagement with the shoulders 52 by means of the screws 54. The opposite side of each of the arms 44 projects outwardly parallel to the knife blade 34 to provide a channel 56 in which the tear strip holding means 46 with its heating element 48 is movably mounted.

The tear strip holding means illustrated in FIG. 7 consists of a tubular element 58 of square or rectangular cross section and provided on its outer fiat surface with an insulating strip of material 60. The exposed face of the insulating strip is provided with a longitudinally extending groove 62 in which the Nichrome strip or other means serving as the heating element 48 is positioned.

A plurality of small ports or passages 64 extend from the tubular element 58 through the insulating strip 60 to points adjacent the heating element 48 on the exposed face of the insulating strip. Each tubular element carried by the radial-1y extending arms 44 of the tear strip handling member 36 is, in turn, brought into communication with a vacuum line 66 during the period of movement of the tear strip holding means from a position adjacent the stationary knife blade 32 to a position adjacent the press roll 10. For this purpose, each tubular element 58 is connected by a flexible hose 68 to one of the nipples 70 communicating with a port 71 in a vacuum gland 72. The vacuum gland 72 is rotatable with the shaft 38 by which the tear strip handling member 36 is carried. The vacuum gland 72 is provided with a flat sealing surface 73 bearing against a complementary flat sealing surface 75 on a stationary vacuum head 74. The vacuum gland 72 is urged toward the stationary vacuum head 74 by means of springs 76 which surround pins 77 carried by the vacuum gland 72 and guided by the positioning elements 78 secured to the shaft 38.

The stationary vacuum head 74 is mounted on the frame member 118 shown at the left-hand side of the machine as seen in FIG. 8. The vacuum head is located so as to surround the bearings 40 on which shaft 38 rotates and is provided with an arcuate slot or passage 79 as shown in FIG. 8A communicating with the vacuum line 66. In this way, each of the ports 71 of the vacuum gland 72 will, in turn, be brought into communication with the arcuate slot 79 and the vacuum line 66 during a portion of the rotation of the tear strip handling member 36 corresponding to the movement of the tear strip holding means 58 from a position adjacent the stationary knife blade 32 and the press roll 10.

In this way, each tear strip 50, which is severed from the web 20 by the action of the stationary and movable knives 32 and 34, is held in engagement with the exposed face of the insulating strip 60 by suction applied to the tear strip through the ports 64. At the same time, the tear strip is held in place so that it overlies the heating element 48 and is heated thereby. Therefore, when the arm 44 carrying the heated tear strip 50 on the outer exposed face of the insulating strip 60 is brought into engagement with the web of wrapper-forming material supported by the press roll 10, the tear strip 58 will be forcibly pressed against the web 2 and will be securely bonded in place on the web.

It is, of course, necessary for each of the movable knife blades 34 to project outward beyond the adjacent tear strip holding means 46 and heating element 48 to a cutting position when it moves into position to cooperate with the stationary knife blade 32 in severing the tear strip from the web of tear strip material 20. For this purpose, each of the tear strip holding members 58 is supported by springs at 80 located near the ends of the member 58 and beyond the ends of channels 56. The member 58 with its suction means and heating element then may be pressed inward within channel 56 against the action of springs 80 to leave the cutting edge of the movable knife blade 34 exposed for operation. Thereinafter, when the knife blade 34 had cut off the tear strip 50 and moved on beyond the stationary knife blade 32, the member 58 is released so that the springs 80 will cause member 58 to move outward again beyond the knife blade 34 to apply the tear strip 50 to web 2 or 14.

This controlled movement of the member 58 within the channel 56 of the tear strip handling means 36 may be effected in any suitable way, as by providing a roller 82 located adjacent the stationary knife blade 32 and positioned to be engaged by a clip 84 carried by the member 58 upon rotation of the tear strip handling member 36. The member 58 on each of the arms 44 of the member 36 will thus be pressed inward by roller 82 to expose movable knife 34 as the arm approaches the stationary knife blade 32 for cutting a tear strip 50 from the web of material 20. The clips 84 on the opposite ends of member 58 are formed as shown in FIG. 5 with slots 86 engageable by pins 88 to guide the member 58 during its movement within the channel 56 of the arm 44 of member 36.

The springs '80 which urge the member 58 radially outward within the channel 56 surround bolts 90 which not only limit the outward movement of the member 58 after it passes beyond the roller 82 but also serve to guide the member 58 in its movement within slot 56. Accordingly, when the member 58 receives and carries a tear strip 50, the member is urged outward by springs 80 to the limit permitted by the bolts 90. The severed tear strip 50 then will be held in position to engage the portion of the web 2 of wrapper-forming material supported by press roll 10. The springs 80 then again permit member 58 and the heating element 48 to yield sufficiently to pass the press roll while forcibly urging the tear strip against the web 2. In this way, the tear strip is fixedly bonded, attached or fused onto the surface of the web of wrapper-forming material in a predetermined position extending transversely of the web.

As shown in FIG. 1, the tear strip 50 is preferably somewhat longer than the width of the web of wrapping material 2, or is positioned on the web and bonded thereto so as to present an end tab 92 which projects beyond an edge of the package wrapper-forming web 2. Therefore, the web 2, after having the tear strip aflixed thereto is moved on beyond the press roll 10 and preferably is presented to web-notching means 94. The web-notching means shown is in the form of blades or projections 96 which are carried by and rotatable with a shaft 98. These blades cooperate with a roll 100 to form parallel short notches or cuts 102 in the edge of the web 2 at opposite sides of the projecting tab or end 92 of the tear strip.

From the notchin-g means, the web with the transversely extending and longitudinally spaced tear strips 50 thereon passes between the feed roll 104 and idler 106 and may move on to any suitable or preferred means or device for forming a package wrapper, bag or article cover. In the alternative, the web may be wound up on a roll as shown at 108 which is mounted on a shaft 110 and designed for transfer, storage, shipment or use in package or wrapper-forming equipment located elsewhere or not shown.

The web or webs of wrapper-forming material 2 and 14 are drawn from the supply rolls 4 and 16 by the action of the driven feed roll 104 and the idler 106. These rolls serve-to draw the web or Webs of package-forming material over idler 8 and past the press roll 10 where the tear strip is applied thereto. On the other hand, the web of tear strip material 20 is passed to the stationary and movable knife blades 32 and 34 by the driven roll 26 and idler 28. Such feeding means may be controlled as desired to advance the webs 2 and 20 at the proper and predetermined speeds for any desired type of operation. Thus, if desired, the web 2 or the multiple Webs 2 and 14 from which the package wrapper or bag is to be formed, and the web of tear strip-forming material 20 may be so advanced and synchronized that the tear strips 50 will be secured to the web of package-forming material at equally spaced fixed intervals throughout the length of the web of package-forming material.

This'procedure is satisfactory and may be preferred when the equipment is to be used in producing a single fixed size or style of wrapper, package or bag. However, for mostpur-poses, it is desirable to manufacture the equipment as an' adjustable or multi-purpose machine adapted for use in wrapping various sizes or types of packages or forming various sizes of bags or other wrapping or packaging materials. For this purpose, it is desirable to construct the equipment so as to afford the greatest possible flexibility in its operation. The machine, therefore, should be capable of applying the tear strips to a web of wrapper-forming material in any of various predetermined spaced relations lengthwise of the web. Any suitable means, such as a revolution counter or the like, may be used for this purpose. However, by way of ex.- ample, and as indicated in FIG. 1 of the drawings, at least one of the webs of wrapper-forming material may be provided with a dark spot or area 112 or with some other type of control device which may be presented to a photo-electric cell 114 or other means so as to control the timing of rotation or movement of the tear strip producing and handling means employed. At the same time, it is desirable to advance the web or webs of pack- 6 age or wrapper-forming material in a controlled manner or at a constant speed and as rapidly as possible without undesired interruption in its travel.

In order to effect such control, the driving and control means illustrated in FIGS. 2, 9 and 10 may be employed. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 9, a motor 116 may be mounted on the frame member 118 at the left-hand side of the machine as seen in FIG. 8. Motor 116 serves to drive a speed reducer 1-20 through the belt or chain 122 and also serves to actuate a vacuum pump 124 through the belt 126 to develop the suction applied to suction line 66 for actuating the tear strip holding means 46.

The speed reducer is provided with a sprocket 128 which may be rotated at constant speed and is engaged by a main drive chain 130 that passes about sprockets 132 and 134. The sprocket 128 is secured to the gear 138; whereas, the latter gear meshes with gear 140 on shaft 142 to which a sprocket 144 is secured. Sprocket 144 drives chain 146 which passes beneath tension-adjusting roll 148 to sprocket 150 on the shaft 12 so as to rotate the press roll 10. Chain 146 then passes on beneath the sprocket 152 which drives feed roll 104 and continues on over the tension adjusting idler sprocket 154 so as to return to the sprocket 144.

In this way, the web of package-forming material may be advanced at a constant speed or in a controlled manner past the press roll 10 and the tear strip handling means 36. The shaft 142 which drives chain 146 also serves to drive the rewind chain 156 to rotate the take-up roll 108 on which the finished web of material having the tear strips secured thereto is wound. However, it will, of course, be understood that the finished Web of material with its tear strips may pass on to any desired type of packaging or wrapper-forming equipment instead of being wound up on the roll 108.

While the web of package-forming material is advancing, the tear strip handling member 36 is rotated intermittently or step by step to apply the tear strips to the web in the desired and predetermined spaced relation. In a similar manner, the feed roll 26 which cooperates with the idler 28 to draw the tear strip material 20 from the roll 22 is rotated intermittently. In this way, a predetermined length of the web of tear strip material 20 is moved down over the support 30 to project a limited distance beyond the stationary knife 32 sufficient to form a single tear strip 50 of predetermined width. The feed roll 26 is then stopped until the tear strip handling member 36 has been actuated to sever a tear strip 50 from the web 20; whereupon the feed roll 20 is again rotated to advance another limited predetermined distance for projecting the web of material 20 beyond the stationary knife 32 a sufiicient distance to form the next tear strip.

In order to rotate the tear strip handling member 36 and the feed roll 26 in such an intermittent manner, clutch means 154 are interposed between the shaft 156 and the constantly rotating sprocket 132. The clutch means 154 is actuated in response to the operation of the photo-electric cell 114 or other .control element movable with the web of material 2 whereby the shaft 156 is rotated intermittently or step by step each time a dark spot 112 or other control means on web 2 is moved into position between the photo-electric cell 114 and the light source 158. Accordingly, whenever a predetermined length of the web of wrapper-forming material 2 is moved past the photo-electric cell 114, the clutch 154 is actuated so that sprocket 160 on shaft 156 will be rotated. A chain 162 which passes about the sprocket 160 extends to the sprocket 164 carried by the shaft 38 of the tear strip-handling member 36. In this way, the tear strip-handling member 36 is rotated through an angle of 90 or through any other predetermined arc sulficient to cause the movable knife blade 34 on the arm 44 of the tear strip-handling member to move past the stationary knife blade 32 to sever a tear strip 50 from the Web 20 f tear strip-forming material. Thereafter, the web 20 of tear strip-forming material is again drawn from the roll 22 and advanced the limited distance necessary to product the next tear strip. In order to assure the proper limited movement of the feed roll 26 to produce a single narrow tear strip at a time, the feed roll 26 is driven from the shaft 38 of the tear strip-handling member 36 through a reducing train of gears including gear 166 on shaft 38, large gear 168, small gear 170 and the large gear 172 which is secured to the shaft 174 which rotates the drive roll 26.

In essentially the same way, the web-notching means 94 is actuated intermittently and in timed relation to the operation of the tear strip-handling member 36 to form the notches 102 in the edge of the web of package-forming material 2 and on opposite sides of the projecting end tabs 92 of each tear strip 50. For this purpose, the webnotching means 94 is actuated to rotate the shaft 98 intermittently by means of a chain 176 which passes about a sprocket 178 on the notcher clutch shaft 180. A onerevolution clutch 182 serves to cause notcher clutch shaft 180 and notcher shaft 98 to be driven intermittently by the sprocket 134. The operation of the one-revolution clutch 182 is in turn controlled in timed relation to the operation of the clutch 154 and the rotation of shaft 156 and tear strip-handling member by means of a link 184 which extends from the lever 186 associated with clutch 154 to the lever 188 associated with the clutch 182.

In this way, the web-notching means 94 is actuated in predetermined timed relation to the operation of the tear strip-handling means 36 and in such a Way as to form the notches 102 at the proper locations in the edge of the web 2 and on opposite sides of each tear strip 50.

Of course, if the machine is to be used in producing a single size and type of package, bag or the like, the operation of the tear strip-handling or transfer means 36 and the operation of feed roll 26 and notcher 94 can all be actuated by any suitable or conventional timer, revolution counter or other fixed type of control means. Moreover, even when the size and type of wrapper to be produced is variable, other types of control means for the intermittently operating elements can be employed for actuatin the tear strip-forming means and the strip transferring and bonding means used. The control mechanism can, of course, be actuated by elements other than an electric eye and any preferred sensing means can be used. Furthermore, although the web may carry magnetic ink or be notched or perforated to energize intermittently operating elements of the mechanism, such elements may be actu ated as an incident to a weighing or filling operation related to the use or a characteristic of the package or its contents.

By way of illustration, equipment embodying the present invention may be constructed to provide a more extended period for heating and bonding the tear strip to the Web of wrapper-forming material. Thus, as shown in FIG. 11, the press roll may actually be in the form of a continuous belt 280 movable over an arcuate support 202 and formed of heat transmitting material, such as thin sheet metal, fiber glass fabric having copper or Nichrome carried thereby to heat the web 2 and tear strip 50. In the alternative, the belt 200 or other means for bonding the tear strip to the wrapping material may :serve to create spots or limited high temperature areas for securing the tear strip in place. Further, if desired, :the heating means may be actuated so as to bond multiple layers of wrapper-forming material, such as the layers 2 and 14 together at the point where the tear strip is applied or elsewhere.

The heating elements used, in whatever form they are presented to the tear strip and wrapper-forming material, may be heated continuously or by intermittent impulses. It will also be apparent that the heating means may be in the form of coil or strip of resistance wire or be composed of any suitable material whereas the insulating strip or other means by which the heating means is supported may be formed of ceramic, plastic, or other suitable or preferred material.

The type, size and style of the bag or wrapper produced can be varied; and, as illustrated in FIG. 12, it is possible to make two bags or wrappers at a time by applying a relatively long tear strip 210 to a Web of wrapper-forming material 212 which is Wide enough to produce two wrappers, such as those indicated at 214A and 214B. The opposite ends of tear strip 210 can then extend beyond both edges of the web 212 as shown at 216, and the web thereafter can be severed lengthwise as indicated at 218 and sever transversely along the lines 220 to form multiple wrappers or bags such as 14A and 1413 from each width of the web. At the same time, the notches 222 can be formed in the wrappers at opposite sides of the projecting ends 216 so that each wrapper or the like can be provided with its own tear strip.

It will, thus, be apparent that the form, construction, and arrangement of the various elements of machines embodying the present invention are capable of many modifications and changes and that the equipment is adjustable or may be altered to produce a great variety of sizes, types and styles of packages or packaged products. In view thereof, it should be understood that the particular embodiments of the invention which have been shown in the drawings and described above are intended to be illustrative only are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. Mechanism for applying a heat sealable tear strip to a Web of wrapper-forming material compr sing means for moving 'a Web of heat sealable tear strip-forming material to a position adjacent a stationary cutting element, means for moving a Web of material to which the tear strip is to be applied to a position adjacent a pressure member, 'and a tear strip-handling member including means movable from a position adjacent said cutting element to a position adjacent said pressure member, said tear strip-handling member embodying a knife blade engageable with said tear strip-forming material and cooperating with said stationary cutting element to produce a tear strip, means for holding the tear strip produced in a predetermined position on the tear strip-handling member and means carried by said tear strip handling member for heating the tear strip so held while transferring said tear strip from a. point adjacent the stationary cutting element to that portion of the web of wrapper-forming material adjacent said pressure member.

2. Mechanism for applying a heat sealable tear strip to a web of wrapper-forming material comprising means for moving a web of heat sealable tear strip-forming material to a position adjacent a stationary cutting element, means for moving a web of material to which the tear strip to be applied to a position adjacent a pressure member, and a tear strip-handling member including means movable from a position adjacent said cutting element to a position adjacent said pressure member, said tear strip-handling member embodying a knife blade engageable with said tear strip forming material and cooperating with said stationary cutting element to produce a tear strip, means for holding the tear strip produced in a predetermined position on the tear strip-handling member means carried by said tear strip handling membet for heating the tear strip so held while transferring said tear strip from a point adjacent said stationary cutting element to that portion of the web of wrapper-forming material adjacent said pressure member, and means operable upon movement of the tear strip into engagement with the web of wrapper-forming material for pressing the heated tear strip against said web.

3. In mechanism for producing heat sealable tear strips and applying the same to a web of wrapper-forming material, the combination of a rotatable member having a 3,298,891 9 v 10 plurality of radially extending arms, each of which arms cal heating element is carried by the holding member and carries a knife blade, means located adjacent the knife located adjacent said row of ports. blade for holding a tear strip in place and means carried by said rotatable member for heating a tear strip so held References Cited by the Examiner during rotation of said member. 5

4. Mechanism of the character defined in claim 3 UNITED STATES PATENTS wherein the tear strip-holding member is tubular in form 3,226,282 12/1965 Jackson 156-419 and has a row of ports therein located adjacent the knife blade through which suction may be applied to hold the EARL BERGERTPnmary Emmmer' tear strip in place on the holding member and an electri- 10 DOUGLAS J. DRUMMOND, Examiner. 

1. MECHANISM FOR APPLYING A HEAT SEALABLE TEAR STRIP TO A WEB OF WRAPPER-FORMING MATERIAL COMPRISING MEANS FOR MOVING A WEV OF HEAT SEALABLE TEAR STRIP-FORMING MATERIAL TO A POSITION ADJACENT A STATIONARY CUTTING ELEMENT, MEANS FOR MOVING A WEBE OF MATERIAL TO WHICH THE TEAR STRIP IS TO BE APPLIED TO A POSITION ADJACENT A PRESSURE MEMBER, AND A TEAR STRIP-HANDLING MEMBER INCLUDING MEANS MOVABLE FROM A POSITION ADJACENT SAID CUTTING ELEMENT TO A POSITION ADJACENT SAID PRESSURE MEMBER, SAID TEAR STRIP-HANDLING MEMBER EMBODYING A KNIFE BLADE ENOPERATING WITH SAID STATIONARY CUTTING ELEMENT TO PRODUCE A TEAR STRIP, MEANS FOR HOLDING THE TEAR STRIP PRODUCED IN A PREDETERMINED POSITION ON THE TEAR STRIP-HANDLING MEMBER AND MEANS CARRIED BY SAID TEAR STRIP HANDLING MEMBER FOR HEATING THE TEAR STRIP SO HELD WHILE TRANSFERRING SAID TEAR STRIP FROM A POINT ADJACENT THE STATIONARY CUTTING ELEMENT TO THAT PORTION OF THE WEB OF WRAPPER-FORMING MATERIAL ADJACENT SAID PRESSURE MEMBER. 